Adventures with building a home server

Show off your quiet rig.

Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Lawrence Lee

Post Reply
Houe
Posts: 8
Joined: Fri Nov 14, 2008 5:07 pm
Location: ND

Adventures with building a home server

Post by Houe » Fri Nov 14, 2008 5:33 pm

I planned it all out and selected the components to make a windows home server. I selected this cheap case along with a iStarUSA backplane hard drive cage. I also selected the ever popular ga-ma74gm-s2 motherboard. All the parts arrived and so I began putting it together but there was a problem...

Image

The HD cage would not slide all the way into place - it hit the ATX connector. So I searched high and low for another motherboard that would fit this build. I found very few that would work. There were a few options but they all required more power than the 740g. If only the connector was a old 20pin sytle atx connector all would fit. The manual states this board IS compatible with 20 pin atx power supply's! I'm in luck. I decided to swap the connector with a 20 pin version. I had a old motherboard lying around with just such a connector...

Here is the pic after removing the 20 pin atx connector from the donor board.

Image

Image

Now for the scarry part my nice new board...

Image

And here the part removed is...

Image

The donor connector transplanted...

Image

It fits!!!

Image

The patient awaiting a copy of WHS to be installed...
Image

First let me say the fan included with the iStarUSA backplane is loud even on the low setting. That fan is going to have to go. In the next day or two I'll receive my shipment of Noctua fans and green 5400rpm drives.

that Linux guy
Posts: 213
Joined: Thu Mar 20, 2008 8:51 am
Location: In the server room, playing Trackmania

Post by that Linux guy » Fri Nov 14, 2008 5:40 pm

What I've always wondered about doing with one of those backplanes is getting a 80mm to 120mm fan adapter and putting a nice 12cm fan instead of screwing with different 80mm units. Do you think it's possible? I would try, but I don't own one yet.

Houe
Posts: 8
Joined: Fri Nov 14, 2008 5:07 pm
Location: ND

Post by Houe » Fri Nov 14, 2008 6:42 pm

that Linux guy wrote:What I've always wondered about doing with one of those backplanes is getting a 80mm to 120mm fan adapter and putting a nice 12cm fan instead of screwing with different 80mm units. Do you think it's possible? I would try, but I don't own one yet.
I'm not sure what kind of adapter you are referring to. Do you have a link to one so I could see?

angelkiller
Posts: 871
Joined: Fri Jan 05, 2007 11:37 am
Location: North Carolina

Post by angelkiller » Fri Nov 14, 2008 7:20 pm

Houe wrote:I'm not sure what kind of adapter you are referring to. Do you have a link to one so I could see?
I think that Linux guy was referring to and adapter similar to this one. The small end screws into the 80mm fan hole (on the backplane) and a 120mm fan goes on the other end.

Nice mod! :D I don't know if I have the guts to remove the ATX connector from a new motherboard. I'm looking forward to your updates.

Houe
Posts: 8
Joined: Fri Nov 14, 2008 5:07 pm
Location: ND

Post by Houe » Fri Nov 14, 2008 7:55 pm

angelkiller wrote:
Houe wrote:I'm not sure what kind of adapter you are referring to. Do you have a link to one so I could see?
I think that Linux guy was referring to and adapter similar to this one. The small end screws into the 80mm fan hole (on the backplane) and a 120mm fan goes on the other end.
If a person had a lot of room maybe one of those adapters could be mounted to the back the hard drive cage. But with the very limited space I have I'm not going to even try that.
angelkiller wrote:Nice mod! :D I don't know if I have the guts to remove the ATX connector from a new motherboard. I'm looking forward to your updates.
I have some fancy solder equipment that makes such task easier, but you right it was a little scary. Doing something like that with a radio shack soldering iron would be near impossible in my opinion. You have to be able to heat up all 24 pins at one time and to it quickly or you could damage the board and melt the connector. Afterwords a suction solder iron is needed to clean out the holes.

I found out the fan inside this hard drive cage is the 80x15mm variety so I need to search for a quiet fan in that form. I figured it was a standard 25mm. hmmm

angelkiller
Posts: 871
Joined: Fri Jan 05, 2007 11:37 am
Location: North Carolina

Post by angelkiller » Fri Nov 14, 2008 8:30 pm

Houe wrote:I found out the fan inside this hard drive cage is the 80x15mm variety so I need to search for a quiet fan in that form. I figured it was a standard 25mm. hmmm
Could you mod the cage so that a 25mm thick fan works?

that Linux guy
Posts: 213
Joined: Thu Mar 20, 2008 8:51 am
Location: In the server room, playing Trackmania

Post by that Linux guy » Sat Nov 15, 2008 2:20 am

angelkiller wrote:
Houe wrote:I found out the fan inside this hard drive cage is the 80x15mm variety so I need to search for a quiet fan in that form. I figured it was a standard 25mm. hmmm
Could you mod the cage so that a 25mm thick fan works?
That's what I'd try to do. Hell, I'd go for a 38mm thick unit while you're at it. 80mm x 15mm fans are difficult to find as it is. Finding a quiet one, or at least one that responds well to undervolting would be even more difficult.

And Angelkiller, that adapter you linked to was exactly what I was thinking of. I had plans to use one of those on a planned Shuttle system that never got under way :)

Trav1s
Posts: 259
Joined: Sun Nov 09, 2008 12:33 pm
Location: CR, IA

Post by Trav1s » Sat Nov 15, 2008 5:46 am

Good discussion...

Coolerguys has many different fans as well as several versions of the fan adapters in stock...

http://www.coolerguys.com/fanadapters.html

Houe
Posts: 8
Joined: Fri Nov 14, 2008 5:07 pm
Location: ND

Post by Houe » Sat Nov 15, 2008 6:09 am

that Linux guy wrote:
angelkiller wrote:
Houe wrote:I found out the fan inside this hard drive cage is the 80x15mm variety so I need to search for a quiet fan in that form. I figured it was a standard 25mm. hmmm
Could you mod the cage so that a 25mm thick fan works?
That's what I'd try to do. Hell, I'd go for a 38mm thick unit while you're at it. 80mm x 15mm fans are difficult to find as it is. Finding a quiet one, or at least one that responds well to undervolting would be even more difficult.

And Angelkiller, that adapter you linked to was exactly what I was thinking of. I had plans to use one of those on a planned Shuttle system that never got under way :)
Silenx IXP-52-11

or

SilenX IXP-52-14

Those are the only slim 80mm fans I could find at the egg. Thoughts on Silenx fans and these in particular? I'll ask in the fan forum...

clalor
Posts: 56
Joined: Mon Jul 04, 2005 7:00 pm
Location: SLC, Utah, US

Post by clalor » Sat Nov 15, 2008 9:50 pm

Wow, nice workaround. I don't know if I would have been brave enough to try that myself, especially on a new board.

Have you considered removing the backplane's fan and rear housing and ducting the rear of the backplane directly to the PSU's intake? That might be worth trying if the drives inside the backplane aren't generating too much heat.

that Linux guy
Posts: 213
Joined: Thu Mar 20, 2008 8:51 am
Location: In the server room, playing Trackmania

Post by that Linux guy » Sun Nov 16, 2008 12:17 pm

clalor, good idea! I never thought of that. :D

As for the SilenX fans, they're usually not bad fans, but don't listen to their specs. They greatly exaggerate their DBa numbers. They're not the first to misrepresent their product, but they're the ones that do it the most blatantly.

protellect
Posts: 312
Joined: Tue Jul 24, 2007 3:57 pm
Location: Minnesota

Post by protellect » Mon Nov 17, 2008 1:56 pm

what do the 4 pins you removed power? the pci-e slot?

Suosaaski
Posts: 144
Joined: Tue Jul 31, 2007 9:46 am

Post by Suosaaski » Tue Nov 18, 2008 2:14 am

That is a nice mod on the motherboard :shock:

frenchie
Friend of SPCR
Posts: 1346
Joined: Tue Jul 08, 2008 4:53 am
Location: CT

Post by frenchie » Tue Nov 18, 2008 2:34 am

Yep, good job on the mobo !!! 8)

Reminds me of some of my electronics projects... when I wished I had one of those fancy soldering irons... but didn't :cry:

angelkiller
Posts: 871
Joined: Fri Jan 05, 2007 11:37 am
Location: North Carolina

Post by angelkiller » Tue Nov 18, 2008 5:08 pm

protellect wrote:what do the 4 pins you removed power? the pci-e slot?
According to this image (and if my orientation is correct) he removed pins, 11, 12, 23 & 24. Those pins carry voltages that are already carried by other wires, so technically they arn't needed. But I guess they were added to split the current over more wires. I'm assuming that this is why 20pin ATX PSUs are compatible with 24pin ones. (Similar to 8pin P4 connector vs a 4pin one. Same voltage, more wires and less current per wire)

protellect
Posts: 312
Joined: Tue Jul 24, 2007 3:57 pm
Location: Minnesota

Post by protellect » Wed Nov 19, 2008 11:10 am

Ah.

In college I came across a custom built computer for video editing, that was sort of working, but flaky under load.

Opening it up, I found a 20pin power supply in a 24pin motherboard. Replacing the power supply fixed the stability issues.

So, I didn't know you could do that. Cool :)

Houe
Posts: 8
Joined: Fri Nov 14, 2008 5:07 pm
Location: ND

Post by Houe » Fri Nov 21, 2008 6:36 am

protellect wrote:what do the 4 pins you removed power? the pci-e slot?
Wiki seems to agree with your suggestion stating: ATX12V 2.2 — One 24-pin connector, one ATX12V 4 pin connector. Main Power Connector changed from 20 pin to 24 pin to support PCI-Express requirements.

I guess that soon wasn't enough as now a lot of video cards require a 6 pin connector for power. Anyway I'm not worried at all since the manual states 20 pin power supplies are supported and I am using the onboard video. This is a really low powered rig.

Gojira-X
Posts: 176
Joined: Sat Oct 08, 2005 9:50 am
Location: Southend, England, UK

Post by Gojira-X » Fri Nov 21, 2008 10:03 am

Houe wrote:
protellect wrote:what do the 4 pins you removed power? the pci-e slot?
Wiki seems to agree with your suggestion stating: ATX12V 2.2 — One 24-pin connector, one ATX12V 4 pin connector. Main Power Connector changed from 20 pin to 24 pin to support PCI-Express requirements.

I guess that soon wasn't enough as now a lot of video cards require a 6 pin connector for power. Anyway I'm not worried at all since the manual states 20 pin power supplies are supported and I am using the onboard video. This is a really low powered rig.
Houe: Since you have already invalidated your warrenty by swapping the 24pin connector for a 20pin connector, why not just solder 4 short wires to the board and attach a 4pin molex connector.
If the board needs extra power, you just plug in a molex and bingo extra power delivered!

Fayd
Posts: 379
Joined: Thu May 10, 2007 2:19 pm
Location: San Diego

Post by Fayd » Fri Nov 21, 2008 11:00 am

Houe wrote:
that Linux guy wrote:
angelkiller wrote: Could you mod the cage so that a 25mm thick fan works?
That's what I'd try to do. Hell, I'd go for a 38mm thick unit while you're at it. 80mm x 15mm fans are difficult to find as it is. Finding a quiet one, or at least one that responds well to undervolting would be even more difficult.

And Angelkiller, that adapter you linked to was exactly what I was thinking of. I had plans to use one of those on a planned Shuttle system that never got under way :)
Silenx IXP-52-11

or

SilenX IXP-52-14

Those are the only slim 80mm fans I could find at the egg. Thoughts on Silenx fans and these in particular? I'll ask in the fan forum...
you'll find silenx has a pretty bad reputation in general for the bogus claims they make regarding their noise levels.

14 db at 1800 RPM? this kind of statement is insane.

blackworx
*Lifetime Patron*
Posts: 601
Joined: Sat Dec 01, 2007 2:04 am
Location: UK

Post by blackworx » Fri Nov 21, 2008 1:47 pm

Nice work 8)

Post Reply